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Books By Craig

Barbed Wire

Perry’s Situational Ideology

So when does an anti-government conservative switch sides? Answer: When a drug company bent on government requiring use of its products offers support.

The flap over Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s executive order to vaccinate teenage girls against cancer usually misses the point. Some say it proves he’s a big government believer, but the truth is more complicated: It proves he’s for sale.

Perry signed an executive order a few years ago to administer a drug made by a company, Merck, that just so happened to be one of his biggest political supporters and cash contributors. Conservatives then and now bristle at the notion of government mandating drug injections. Perry, who typically advocates such anti-government rhetoric, had his reasons to veer from that course:

Associated Press (2007): Merck is bankrolling efforts to pass laws in state legislatures across the country mandating its Gardasil vaccine for girls as young as 11 or 12. It doubled its lobbying budget in Texas and has funneled money through Women in Government, an advocacy group made up of female state legislators around the country. Perry has several ties to Merck and Women in Government. One of the drug company’s three lobbyists in Texas is Mike Toomey, his former chief of staff. His current chief of staff’s mother-in-law, Texas Republican state Rep. Dianne White Delisi, is a state director for Women in Government.

Perhaps this is a warning sign for conservatives and potential comfort for liberals. For the right price Rick Perry is not a right wing ideologue after all.

repub-licanthropes, led by my senator dirty dave durenberger, redid Soc Sec in ’88 so it would be solvent until 2020. Despite the fact that Soc Sec was doing better than anticipated in ’88, the rippers reedid soc Sec a second time a few years ago. These rippers claimed Soc Sec would now be solvent ’til 2040. Now the goldman liars are bleating once again that Soc Sec is in a crisis, despite the fact that it is once again doing better than expected during the by the last fixer-uppers. When Soc Sec does better, I suspect that life expectancy is falling for people who earn less than $5k/mo, ie 80+% of the population.

query: did the critters accomplish anything yesterday on their first day back?
this would be a good time to start a day-to-day account of what they’re doing and how much they are costing us to do it…. you know, the usual in session expenses like lights, electricity, janitorial service, senate/house dining food and labor, barbershop, gym, security, printing, it mgmt…

Perry has the Al Gore problem , stiff and weird posture. doesn’t look like Gore, more like the central casting caricature of a slimeball politician.
He needs to buy a bigger shirt so that he doesn’t look like his tie is choking him.